Chapter 13 Shloka 21

पुरुष: प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुंक्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान्।

कारणं गुणसंगोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु।।२१।।

Only the Purusha seated in Prakriti

partakes of the qualities born of Prakriti.

Attachment with those qualities

constitutes the cause of birth

in good or evil incarnations.

Chapter 13 Shloka 21

पुरुष: प्रकृतिस्थो हि भुंक्ते प्रकृतिजान्गुणान्।

कारणं गुणसंगोऽस्य सदसद्योनिजन्मसु।।२१।।

Dwelling on the root cause of the attitude of enjoyership, the Lord says:

Only the Purusha seated in Prakriti partakes of the qualities born of Prakriti. Attachment with those qualities constitutes the cause of birth in good or evil incarnations.

Little one, understand this:

The individual, in identification with the qualities born of Prakriti:

a) partakes of those qualities and establishes a claim over them;

b) identifies with the body self and enjoys the qualities of the body;

c) becomes attached to the amalgamation of the five fold kaarya andkaran and partakes of them;

d) identifies himself with the qualities born of inert nature;

e) thinks he has claims over that which is not actually his;

f) arrogates tasks to himself which are not actually his;

g) claims as ‘I’ and ‘mine’ that which is not even his creation!

Look little one!

1. You have not created this body, yet you claim it as your own.

2. Certain qualities were fortuitously bestowed upon you – and you take pride in those qualities!

3. You have no control over your external form, yet you are so proud of it!

4. Why do you take such pride in the family in which you were born? You had no hand in choosing it.

5. Why are you proud of anything that you have received?

6. Prakriti embellished you with several attributes – why become attached to them?

The consequences of attachment

The Lord says, it is this attachment:

a) that causes your birth in good and evil wombs;

b) that causes you to tread the path of righteousness or unrighteousness;

c) that is the cause of joy and sorrow;

d) that causes duality;

e) that causes internal darkness;

f) that gives rise to ignorance;

g) that prevents one from becoming satiated;

h) that is the cause of greed and avarice;

i)  that is the cause of dependency on objects;

j)  that is the cause of attraction and repulsion;

k) that does not allow you to remain uninfluenced;

l)  that does not let peace abide in your home;

m)  that is the cause of trouble and strife;

n) that is the cause of the individualistic attitude;

o) that gives rise to illusion;

p) that is the cause of the idea of doership;

q) that is the cause of the idea of enjoyership;

r)  that is the cause of wrongly attributing qualities to oneself;

s) that is the cause of concealing certain tendencies and traits;

t)  that is the cause of every level of existence;

u) that is the cause of birth and death.

It is attachment that provides the life force to inert actions and their fruits. Attachment is also the cause for enlivening the seed of that fruit. Thus attachment is the cause of myriad levels of rebirth, both good and bad.

Little one, understand from this, that if attachment did not exist, the fruits of actions would also become lifeless and without seed.

What is attachment?

Little one, understand the meaning of attachment once more.

1. It is affinity.

2. It is friendship.

3. It is attraction.

4. It is contact.

5. It is affection.

6. It is an irrevocable bonding.

7. It is the company one keeps.

8. It implies co-operation.

9. It is tenderness.

10. It is an obsession.

11. It is a desire for togetherness.

12. It is a dedication.

13. It is an attraction for worldly objects.

Where there is attachment:

a) there is attraction;

b) there is temptation;

c) there is a desire to claim the object of attachment;

d) there is subservience to that object;

e) the individual considers his happiness to lie in the attainment of that object and his sorrow to lie in its non-attainment;

f) hatred and rejection are born within the individual;

g) the individual is unwittingly drawn towards the object of his attachment.

Wherever there is attachment, there is a desire for identification, union, participation, absorption, mergence.

The individual considers the attributes of the object of his attachment to be his own; he endeavours to claim them. The individual wishes to claim that object as his own.

Attachment – with whom?

Attachment can be with the good and with the evil.

1. Attachment is essentially with one’s own body – good or bad, rich or poor.

2. Attachment is with the attributes of the body – be they good or bad.

3. Attachment is with one’s family – be it good or bad.

It is not necessary that you are attached to that which is admirable. In fact, attachment generally draws one towards evil. Moha is born because of attachment.

The origin of moha due to attachment

1. Attachment is blind.

2. Attachment does not think.

3. Attachment does not listen to the intellect.

4. Attachment makes one unreasonable and capricious in the pursuit of one’s desired object.

5. Attachment is responsible for the downfall of man – from an embodiment of the Divine to that of goodness, and from an embodiment of goodness to a humane being; and ultimately from a humane being to a demon.

If one’s attachment is with the anatma, or that which is not the Atma, the individual is impelled into the material sphere and is gripped by moha. Attachment binds the individual to the gunas and cultivates demonic qualities in him. But when the attachment to the body goes, then the individual is absorbed back into the Atma.

The consequences of attachment

1. Attachment causes the individual to believe that he is the body.

2. Attachment drives him to enter into conflict with others for the establishment of his body self.

3. Due to attachment the individual begins to claim credit for his personal attributes.

4. It is attachment that gives rise to aberrations in the mind of the individual.

5. Attachment gives birth to desire.

6. Attachment gives rise to attraction and repulsion.

7. Attachment causes the individual to get entangled in the silken bond of hopes and expectations.

8. Attachment cloaks an individual’s intellect.

9. Attachment is the cause of the birth of the demonic in the individual.

The birth of demonic qualities

Attachment causes:

a) the growth of pride and hypocrisy;

b) the growth of anger and desire;

c) an increase in greed and the desire to partake of the objects of the senses;

d) the individual to become unjust;

e) the individual to become critical and discourteous;

f) the individual to become tyrannical and hypocritical;

g) the individual to become a pretender, a thief and an evil doer;

h) the individual to become a deceitful, hard hearted malefactor;

i)  the birth of malice;

j)  the individual to act in a degrading and foolish manner.

Having indulged in all this negativity, he always justifies his deeds as righteous. The individual ever supports his own actions and attempts to prove them blameless. Thus, while committing evil deeds on account of his attachment, he provides sufficient reasons to absolve himself of all guilt. Giving arguments based on imaginary grounds, he proves himself to be the very image of justice and his imaginary principles to be fully justifiable.

Now my child, listen carefully to what I am about to tell you and you may even understand the cycle of birth and death. In the fourth chapter, the Lord had said:

‘ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तान्स्तथैव भजाम्यहम्’

 “As the other approaches Me, so do I address him; whatever way that individual uses Me in his life, I make similar use of him in his life.”

The utilisation of Truth

The ‘usage’ of the Lord is indeed the usage of Truth. What you consider to be the Truth and thus put into practice, that is the way you ‘use’ the Lord. Little one, what you consider to be the Truth in your life, even though it may not be the Truth in the ultimate analysis, is the Truth for you, since you have called it the Truth. You have ‘used’ that Truth in life, and that same Truth will inevitably take form and confront you tomorrow.

For example, if you hurt another and justify yourself as right, you will receive that same maltreatment as the just fruit of your deeds in times to come. Be sure not to resent it then – for, happen it will.

Whatever you consider to be the Truth will inevitably take form. Whatever you give to others justifying it as the Truth, that will be given back to you.

The power of Truth

Little one, Truth has the ability to generate life. Truth has the potential to fill life into the seeds of the fruits of action.

That which you do, justifying it as correct, will assuredly be paid back to you. Hence the Lord explains that the individual’s attachment to attributes determines the superior or inferior status into which he is born in his next life.

Little one, attachment is not due to the Atma. Attachment springs from the intellect and the mind. Ignorance is not an attribute of the Atma; it abides in the intellect and the mind. The Atma is ever silent; the mind and the intellect are vocal. It is this intellect and this mind which become entangled with sense objects and forget about the existence of the Atma.

Little one, you ask: if our sole aim of life is the study of the Scriptures and becoming an embodiment of all they teach, then what does our dharma constitute?

Your very question specifies that the spiritual aspirant has just one single goal. Then, every act must be performed in the pursuance of that sole aim. The simplest method to achieve this is: whatsoever the Scriptures enjoin, whatever is stated in the Gita, believe it to be the absolute Truth. This is what the Lord has said, e.g.

1. The Lord has explained in detail the true meaning of Adhyatam in Chapter 13, shlokas 7 to 11. Follow that Adhyatam in your practical life.

2. He said “Practice spirituality – practice dispassion.”

3. Then, speaking of the attributes of the sthit pragya in Chapter 2, He exhorts us to attain the state of a sthit pragya.

4. He speaks of the elevated state of one established in Brahm and expands on Sankhya or the systematic knowledge of the Atma.

5. He then explains, “You are not the body. This body is destructible; you are the Atma Itself which transcends the body self.”

6. He then enjoins us to transcend loss and gain, honour and dishonour, sorrow and happiness and not be influenced by these.

7. Do not admit any feelings that generate internal turmoil, hatred or excessive affinity, attachment etc.

8. He then states that anger is inappropriate – love all, but make sure that there is no attachment inherent in that love.

9. He enjoins us to be devoid of attachment, but He also admonishes us, “Your attention should ever be fixed on the welfare of all.”

Therefore, the individual’s sole dharma or duty is to translate all the injunctions of the Lord, word for word, into his practical life